Family claims lost third son to drug overdose; cops, Punjab minister say no info on death

Both the local police and Punjab Cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal have, however, so far stated that they had no information of any such death having taken place in near Khiyala recently.

“The water channel outside the village is a spot where most addicts go inject themselves after buying heroin from Khiyala village.

The water channel is on the way to our village. Addicts take their shots near the water channel and then come back home,” said Dhian Singh, a member of Madoke Brar village panchayat.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Nirmal’s mother, Savinder Kaur, said, “His wife had already left him due to his drug addiction. He was addict. He died of an overdose.”

Contacted, Punjab Cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal — who has been at the forefront of raising issues related to the drug problem in the state — stated that he had held a political meeting at Khiyala village on Sunday.

“Nobody informed me about this death. It is unfortunate, if such an incident has actually taken palce,” Dhaliwal, who is an MLA from Ajnala constituency, said. Mandoke Brar villagecomes under the Rajasansi constituency, which is adjacent to Ajnala and is currently represented by Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sarakria.

The local SHO of Khiyala police station, too, declined having any information about the death of Nirmal Singh when contacted.

“I have no information about the death. Nobody has filed a complaint,” said SHO Harpal Singh, who was with Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal during the minister’s visit to Khiyala.

A local AAP worker from Mandoke Brar village, Chanpreet Singh, however, said that drug addiction was a big problem in the area.

“Police don’t do anything. We have filed several complaints. We want our party high command to take a notice of the drug menace and initiate action immediately,” he said.

“Nirmal Singh had three brothers. His eldest brother died due to a disease. His other brother, Jagroop Singh, died due to an alleged drug overdose in 2016. His third brother, Paramjit Singh, also died due to an overdose in 2021. Nirmal, too, jhas now been claimed by drug addiction in a similar manner. He leaves behind two married sisters,” said Dhian Singh, who claimed to be a close relative of the family.

Dhian added that this was not the first such case of someone dying due to a drug overdose in the area.

“There is a Jatt Sikh family in our village that lost two of its sons, Jinda Singh and Hardeep Singh, due to suspected drug addiction. Three other youths — Lakhwidnder Singh, Happy, Gurmukh Singh — also died due to suspected drug overdose. There are many addicts from our village. My elder brother is also an addict,” Singh said.

He added that everytime they approach the police, they are told to keep an eye out on their children. “There is no fear of the police among the smugglers. I can give you the names of people who sell drugs. How come the police don’t know about them? Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal came to Khiyala village to persuade some Congress workers to join the AAP on Sunday. Nobody raised the issue of Nirmal Singh’s death with the minister,” he said.

Prodded for a response, minister Dhaliwal said,”We are trying to control drug smuggling. We are working on it. If the supply is stopped from one side, then it starts from another side. There is a need to absolutely cut off the supply chain. The Centre has not provided us much help in fighting the menace.”

“People sometimes make false allegations of drug overdose deaths due to personal rivalries. We don’t want anyone to get arrested due to this,” Dhaliwal added, while defending the police from allegations that nothing was being done to crack down against the peddlers in the region.